Along with our partners, VentureLab supports a wide variety of early-stage funding and educational programs to help bring your research-based startup to life.
GRA is a nonprofit organization that works with the University System of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Economic Development. GRA has a commercialization grant program dedicated to spinouts based on research from Georgia universities. The $50k Phase 1 and $100k Phase 2 grants, awarded to the university, are intended to help researchers reduce market and technical risk as they work towards commercialization of the technology. GRA also offers a Phase 3 loan of up to $250,000 that is made directly to the spinout company once it has launched. Projects receiving GRA grant funding are also eligible for the GRA Venture Fund, which makes equity investments in GRA-funded companies after extensive due diligence.
The GRA process begins with preparation of the Phase I Pre-Proposal, a brief document explaining the invention and the team’s initial plans for commercialization. Successful applicants will be invited to meet with GRA staff and subsequently submit a full proposal.
If you’re interested in GRA funding for your startup, check out the pre-proposal template and GRA’s guidelines for use of funds, and then contact us to get started.
The National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program launched in 2011 to increase the quality of startups emerging from NSF-funded basic research and teach NSF researchers about entrepreneurship and opportunity recognition. Georgia Tech is the home for I-Corps Hub: Southeast Region, part of NSF's National Innovation Network of I-Corps Hubs.
The national I-Corps Teams program includes up to a $50,000 grant and a seven-week customer discovery training program. A $10,000 participation fee is deducted from the award. A lineage to NSF research (or successful participation in an approved regional program or our I-Corps Sites program) is required to qualify. You apply as a team of three to five members, including a Technical Lead (usually a professor, though senior researchers and postdocs can serve in this role), an Entrepreneurial Lead (typically a graduate student), and an industry mentor. Teams submit an executive summary, then interview with I-Corps staff; those selected proceed to national training.
For more details, read NSF's I-Corps Teams page, review the application template with VentureLab's tips for I-Corps success, and then contact us for help.
The I-Corps South East Hub brings together the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the University of Tennessee Knoxville to develop the southern regional network of NSF’s I-Corps.
I-Corps South introduces research labs, colleges, and universities throughout the Southeast to the evidence-based entrepreneurship methodology and courseware, ultimately increasing commercialization outcomes in each of the participating states. The I-Corps South Node has the potential to reach more than half a million graduate students, and many thousands of the nation’s research faculty.
Entrepreneurship Assistant Program
This paid position offers students the chance to work with Georgia Tech research teams to explore practical applications for their innovations through customer discovery. Entrepreneurship Assistants (EAs) will uncover valuable insights to help transform groundbreaking inventions from concepts into marketable products. Applications open in the fall semester.
EAs will gain entrepreneurial confidence, learn modern startup methodologies, and explore technologies from Georgia Tech research labs. They will build networks with industry professionals, conduct customer discovery interviews, attend weekly check-ins, and prepare findings. The position requires 10-15 hours per week. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until the announced close of the application process. For more information, contact Jonathan Goldman.
CREATE-X offers a series of programs targeted at undergraduate Georgia Tech students interested in establishing a solid foundation for their startup based on evidence-based entrepreneurship. The first program, Startup Lab, is a for-credit course in which students learn how to systematically vet ideas and validate market need. In Idea 2 Prototype (I2P), also a for-credit course, students get faculty mentors, guidance, and seed funding to build functional prototypes of their ideas. The capstone of the CREATE-X program is Startup Launch (formerly Startup Summer), an intensive program in which teams go from a developed idea or prototype to a fully launched startup. Successful teams are eligible to receive $20,000 in funding from an outside investment fund.
Although VentureLab works primarily with graduate students working on Georgia Tech-owned inventions, we’re enthusiastic supporters of CREATE-X and often provide support and guidance to teams after they’ve completed that program.
The annual Career, Research, Innovation and Development Conference is hosted by the Graduate Student Government Association and Graduate Career Development and Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. Graduate students can attend panel discussions on a range of career-focused topics, including the entrepreneurship sessions led by VentureLab staff and local startup founders. A poster competition with travel grant prizes is a highlight of the program.
VentureLab also sponsors the CRIDC Innovation Competition, in which graduate students give presentations making the case for the commercial potential of their work as they compete for $2000 travel grants.